Photo by P.H. Nicholas
The month of April is a glorious time of year. Fruit tree blossoms magically spring forth from branches that had pretended to be dead for months. Bees flitter among friendly flowers, bartering pollen for nectar. Butterflies soar over patches of land they once inhabited as crawlers. Birds celebrate the end of winter with jubilant chirps, coos and chatter. And the cycle of rebirth in the natural world begins anew.
April also brings us two religious holidays that are of immense importance to Jews and Christians all over the world: Passover and Easter. The themes of these widely observed holy days are similar in that they both tell stories of new life made possible by brutal violence, i.e., the liberation of enslaved Jews after a massive slaughter of Egyptians, and the salvation of mankind following Jesus’ sacrificial crucifixion.
Last year, Natural Light Network, in a piece entitled “The Truth About Good Friday,” looked into the meaning of Easter from a non-traditional perspective. (Click on "March 2008" under Archives.)
This year, we will attempt to interpret the Passover story as it relates to a basic understanding of God.
Passover, or “Pesach” in Hebrew, was originally an agricultural festival celebrated in ancient Israel during the month of Nisan, the first month in the Jewish calendar. Over time, however, the focus of this holiday, also referred to as Chag he-Aviv (The Spring Festival), has shifted almost exclusively to the Jewish exodus from Egypt.
The Old Testament of the Bible, as well as the Torah, describes the original Passover as a night of unprecedented terror and carnage that completed a series of plagues God unleashed against Egypt to persuade Pharaoh to free the Israelites.
According to the 12th chapter of Exodus, God decided to force the defiant Pharaoh into submission with a lethal display of shock and awe on a massive scale. To ensure that Jews would not be mistaken for Egyptians during the attack, God instructed Moses to have his people mark their dwellings with blood from a sacrificial lamb:
“And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the bason, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the bason; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning. For the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the Lord will pass over the door and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you.” (Exodus 12:22-23 KJV)
Continuing at Exodus 12:29, we read: “And it came to pass, that at midnight the Lord smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of cattle.”
Based on the Exodus author’s account, Pharaoh soon realized he was powerless against such a destructive force and surrendered:
“And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt; for there was not a house where there was not one dead. And he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, Rise up, and get you forth from among my people, both ye and the children of Israel; and go, serve the Lord, as ye have said.” (Exodus 12:30-31 KJV)
At this point it would seem reasonable to assume that the story ended satisfactorily. The Jews were freed from bondage and Pharaoh had learned a very painful lesson about the consequences of defying God’s will. But, according to the 14th chapter of Exodus, God devised a plan to inflict even more punishment on the devastated Egyptian King. In the 4th verse of chapter 14 God tells Moses of His decision to manipulate Pharaoh’s attitude about setting the Jews free:
“And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, that he shall follow after them; and I will be honoured upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host; that the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord...”
Pharaoh’s final act of defiance, as we read further in chapter 14 of Exodus, ends with the loss of his army, including six hundred chariots, when the Red Sea that had been parted for the Jews to escape suddenly closed in on the pursuing soldiers, drowning all the king’s horses and all the king’s men.
For those seeking to establish a meaningful relationship with our Heavenly Father, the Passover story is problematic in several areas. Would God, the most intelligent being in the universe, ever have to resort to the wholesale slaughter of innocent infants and animals in the dead of night to force His will? And if He did, would He need to be directed by human beings to determine which homes to invade and which to pass over?
The most glaring question that arises from the Exodus author’s account of the methods God employed in subduing a defiant Egyptian King, however, is this: If civilized people routinely condemn the use of violence for personal gain, then why should imperfect human beings be held to a higher standard of conduct than Almighty God?
To understand how the Passover legend came to be accepted as truth, it is important to re-examine religious history from a fresh perspective.
Judaism is the foundation upon which Christianity and Islam were established. Without Judaism, it is doubtful that either of these religions would have become the important caretakers of monotheism they are today. The reason Judaism has played such an essential role in the spiritual development of mankind is that, for thousands of years following the Lucifer insurrection, the ancient Hebrews were the only group that retained any knowledge of the One True God.
While other tribes created religions devoted to the worship of every imaginable idol, Jews remained, for the most part, steadfast in their allegiance to Almighty God. Over time, however, due to the violent nature of primitive man, and the near-constant state of warfare in which he existed, the God of the Jews evolved into a Supreme Being more reflective of man’s environment. He became more like imperfect men: jealous, vengeful, and deadly if provoked.
As acceptance of this fearsome image grew, the once loving, benevolent Heavenly Father began to take on the attributes of a tyrannous warrior king, ready to smite the enemies of his people at a moment’s notice, or drown everybody that angered him, or slay the firstborn of every household in a nation that defied his orders. And like a mighty warrior, he was to be feared first and foremost.
This portrayal of God, however, totally contradicts the Generous, Gracious, and Good Father Jesus introduced us to at the beginning of his ministry on Earth; a Father that will always guide his children rather than drive them; a Father who moves us forward with promises of Heaven, not threats of hell.
The incompatibility of the two versions of God, mercurial king vs. Benevolent Father, in fact, eventually led to the total rejection of Jesus’ teachings by the Jewish ruling class during his sojourn on Earth. And, in spite of Jesus’ lasting message about the true nature of God, the fear of retribution still competes with the anticipation of reward as motivating factors for Jews, Christians, and Muslims in search of spiritual truths. Even in today’s world, religious people are honored to be referred to as “God fearing.”
The use of fear to instill reverence for God, however, has proven to be counter-productive. The reason for this is that negative emotions, such as fear and anger, simply are not conducive to the formation of a healthy relationship with our Heavenly Father.
Consider the comparison of two human fathers, each attempting to motivate his young children to clean their rooms. The first father tells his children that he will “tan their hides” if they don’t get the job done, while the second father promises his children a trip to the ice cream parlor when the task is completed. The result is that all of the children do exactly what is expected of them. But which group performs the work with a positive attitude? And, as they mature, which group of children would be more inclined to love and respect their father?
It is unfortunate that Jews, the people that have been so instrumental in preserving mankind’s link to the One True God of All Creation, cannot seem to free themselves from the shackles of a fear-based religion devoted to a mystical, temperamental, blood-thirsty God. And it is truly revealing that the people responsible for creating this image of a violence-prone God have been subjected to more deadly attacks, both at home and abroad, than any other group in the history of the world.
The scriptures say that we reap what we sow. If human beings are taught that violence is an acceptable means of achieving certain goals, and that God Himself has resorted to murder and mayhem on certain occasions to improve His position, then it would be naïve to expect our adversaries to be more patient or more tolerant than God.
How would you react, for instance, if you were a 21st century Egyptian diplomat making progress in peace talks with Israeli officials when, due to the approach of Passover, the meetings had to be interrupted so that your Jewish counterparts could join their families in celebrating the night their God killed untold thousands of your ancestors?
. If mankind is to rise to the next level of spiritual enhancement, and if the challenges associated with ever escalating hostility toward Jews are to be adequately addressed, then the fictional image of a violent, brutal warrior god created by misguided writers must be replaced with an accurate representation of our wise, loving, and merciful Heavenly Father.
To some, this may seem like an impossible goal. But with God’s assistance, all things are possible.
© 2009 Paul Howard Nicholas
To read more about mankind's relationship with God, go to Extinguishing the Flames
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